Category Archives: Diary

And then it all went black

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My progress, that is.

After I turned around on the isolated road from Devil's Canyon overlook, I felt something snap under my van's hood and lost my power steering. Miles from town, with no safe pull-offs and no cell phone reception, I kept driving. I looked down a few minutes later and noticed my battery meter was down, while my thermostat was registering full blast.

Serpentine belt. Damn.

I made the decision to drive into town and park for the night near a gas station. There are no fully equipped mechanic shops for at least 35 miles.
But I was blessed enough to encounter two young guys at a service station who in the 90-degree heat located and installed a new belt for me. I drove away, checking for signs that my engine was ok and noticed coolant gushing out everywhere.

Headed back to the service station, but they couldn't help me.

Lloyd Mayes, a local motorcycle and auto mechanic and locksmith figured out the leak was coming from my heater core and rerouted the hoses around it for me. I was so relieved to be able to drive away.

Once I got to Gillette, I found another mysterious leak and ended up at the Midas there. So maybe I should add an "American mechanic" category.

Anyway, I think I am ok, now. It's all a part of the adventure. But send your prayers and good thoughts my way!

Why am I doing this again?

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Don't worry, I'm not going to stop blogging. But I thought I should address a couple things that keep coming up.
People often ask me what my "thesis" is for this project, and that's a great question. You can check out my about page to see why I'm doing this.
As a journalist and amateur sociologist, though, I'm trying to keep my own opinions from heavily affecting what I present to you.
Of course, my "coverage" is bound to be skewed by my political views! Also, because I'm driving my house and dog everywhere with me, I'm sticking to smaller cities and towns, which has so far resulted in pretty poor ethnic diversity.
I'll try to work on that.
I am finding patriots are everywhere!
If I had to choose a thesis for this project, so far, I'd say it's that there is a powerful connection between American identity and wild lands. I'd probably argue that we need to actively preserve and promote our landscape in order to maintain a connection to our rugged, individualistic history.
That may sound 101 to lots of you, but growing up and spending much of my adult life in the suburbs and city, it's actually not something I really connected until recently.

The other thing that's been bugging me is the fact my focus on patriotism is not obvious when you peruse my blog.
Because I'm not getting paid, I've been using this forum as a travel diary in addition to my project. I'll try to stick closer to Americana stuff in the future.
Lastly, you would not believe the juggling act required to post sometimes. Many of my entries have been shorter than I'd like, but just know that I am on deadline – the deadline imposed by a flickering bar of wi-fi and the waning batteries in my electronics.

As always, I love getting feedback so please comment or email me.

And enjoy this mural on the wall in Cody, Wyoming!

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Camping at Lost Creek

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I spent a few days in this canyon, where members of several Native American tribes used to go (and still go, though it is now frowned upon) for their coming-of-age spiritual journies.

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This cave is way way far up a rock wall. Not sure how to get to it, but it looks like someone found a way…

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Orofino – no longer a distant memory

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My first taste of Idaho was on a family vacation to Orofino in July, 1990.
My dad took us here in his blue two-ton van without AC to visit a church that had asked him to consider becoming the pastor.

I remember the town in warm dusty colors, with a rustic feel, kind people, gravel roads that teetered on the edge of ravines, deer, snakes and howling coyotes.

Soon we headed back to our lives on a different planet in Seattle and the trip became a hazy memory.

I decided to journey back to  to see if my memories were still accurate.
For the most part, they are.

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Winchester, Idaho

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I ended up detouring from Lapwai to Winchester, where I tried twice to visit a wolf preserve and education center.
I was hoping to pick up some info on canine behavior to help me better understand my Armani. She's such a little wolf girl… But each time I made the trip down that long gravel road, the center was closed. And all the legit campsites and RV parks were full for the holiday!

Anyway, here's an excerpt of my diary entry:

Winchester is very picturesque, but I wouldn't want to live here. There are dandelions in every yard.
People ride their tractors through town. The visitor's center is closed at 11:20 a.m. on the Friday before Memorial Day. I get no cell phone reception.
The couple that runs the grocery store let me use their phone but was too busy butchering a cow to talk to me.
I'm having a hard time figuring out how to approach people the further from big cities I get. The word "blog" throws them off. The word "reporter" makes them suspicious. And often they don't use the Internet.
Nice as I am, I may be just a bit too curious, platinum pixie-haired and somehow still 'city.'
But (pretty much for the above reasons), I'm glad towns like this still exist.

Just a l’il update

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I haven't had access to Internet or phone service since Wednesday!
I've been taking tons of pictures and talking to lots of folks, but I need to keep things concise in order to catch you all up.

Just a note about my personal feelings on being American: I've found that as I progress east (and southeast), I gain a deeper appreciation of modern day America.

It's not really the flags and signs everywhere (though there are tons and I've added new categories for those), but more the vast, rugged beauty that lays open before me to explore.

I've also found the further I get from Seattle, the more social and legal tolerance there is for travelers with crazy dogs and RVs. (Though, ironically, that tolerance has been paired with a decreasing awareness of web terms, such as "blog".)

A new life in Elk, Wash.

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Saturday night a baby was born here, just before midnight. It was a full moon and the coyotes were howling.

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He's already feeling pretty strong, walking around on oversized Bambi legs. Never too far from mom.

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She's something else, too.

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May 12, 2009

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For the past several days  I've been staying in Elk, Wash., near Rand and Becky Miller (pictured below, right) and four of their eight kids – along with other extended family, friends, nine Arabian horses, three dogs, four cats and a small batch of chickens!

The Millers are leaving at the end of the month for a 4 1/2-month trip to Meuselbach, Germany.
They've got a recording studio there and for years have been creating contemporary Christian music with and for the youth of Eastern Europe — a population they feel has been neglected by other Christian evangelists. 

Becky was in Berlin in 1989 when the wall dividing communist and free Germany was torn down. She is still impacted by what she saw.
On the west side, "There were neon lights, flowers in buckets. Everyone was wearing Nikes. People were moving quickly. I can't remember one person wearing a coat," she recalls.Becky
Rand
"But on the east side, everyone was wearing coats, dark wool coats… There was not one building painted. The walls were so worn down. The streets were completely potholed."

Becky believes spiritual and cultural echoes of that divide remain to this day.

To hear some of the music the family has created, check out:

www.myspace.com/blacktaxxi

www.myspace.com/loveshopefulsorrow

Becky paints, too!
www.arabianart.net

Patriotism abounds (in the little things)

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This morning I missed a flagpole gathering in Deer Park for the National Day of Prayer. I heard there were lots of people there.
Honestly, after so many days of cleaning, packing, planning and driving, I'm content to be parked down a winding dirt road, away from everything.
This afternoon, while I was hanging out with the folks I'm staying with, a U.S. Census Bureau worker came by to inquire about the number of residences here. Wonder if he counted my RV?